７月２４日（金：to Okinawa)

Today Nick, Kitty and I ate breakfast downstairs at the ryokan, and got in a quick trip to the onsen before we checked out with Lane. Most of the day was spent traveling on two separate Peach flight with 那覇市 (naha-shi, Naha City), Okinawa as the final destination. It was one of the boys' last days in Japan, so they felt a little frustration at so much time being spent traveling. I think it was a fun trip regardless since we got to see many different places, but it is definitely worth keeping in mind when planning that travel time can be significant, even domestically.

Saw this liquid checking machine at security. Apparently it checks the contents of bottles for safety. Can we get some of these in the USA?

Fortunately, we registered the luggage we would check ahead of time online, so our luggage was less expensive than on the flight to Hokkaido. Peach doesn't connect your luggage to your final destination since it's a budget airline, so unfortunately we did have to check our luggage for each flight separately.

Yum! Not quite sure what it is supposed to resemble but it was good.

Once we got to 那覇空港 (naha kuukou, Naha Airport) we took the monorail station connected right to the airport to the stop closest to our hostel and engaged in a brisk 12-or-so minute walk with our luggage.

Lights to show which stop you've arrived at on Yui Monorail!

We found some fun things in the street, too.

dragon head... just chilling

shisa (Okinawan lion-dog)

Mini tree pouch plants? What are these?

Shisa are usually found in pairs. Males are depicted with their mouths closed and females with their mouths open. I found a brief description of shisa I'd like to share.

We checked in to our four-person private room and it turned out we weren't allowed to use the AC except for 8pm to 8am. It was mid-afternoon, and Okinawa is very hot and humid, so we headed out to dinner early. We had great pizza at Nippori Pizza, and Lane said it even rivaled his favorite pizza place. It was unanimous that we thought it was really great pizza.

our hostel's sign

and the hostel itself

三毛猫 (mike neko, calico cat) we found on the way to dinner

it is definitely チョコドリンク (choko dorinku, chocolate drink)

The reason the hostel probably chose to only allow AC 8pm to 8am is that Japanese people tend to be concerned with being エコ (eko, ecologically friendly). Most don't leave their AC on all night but just set the time for an hour or two as they go to sleep so they go to sleep comfortably. Foreigners, though, want to use the AC all the time, generally, when it's hot. So as a compromise, the hosetel decided to expect travelers to leave during the day, but to allow AC at night when people would be in the hostel.


Hostels are really great for meeting people. If you ever travel alone try staying in a hostel. Foreign travelers tend to me friendly and like to rally together for group discounts and to go on day trips with others. It's a great way to hear about more places you might want to see in the area and take on a travel buddy or 3.

At night Nick, Kitty and I sat in the common space of the hostel, and chatted with a couple Australian men and a young Swedish brother and sister. They told us there was a typhoon coming in tomorrow (what is with us and typhoons?) and we just enjoyed socializing. They hadn't known each other before the hostel, but they had spent the day traveling together. I highly recommend hostel experiences.

Travel tips:
22. Stay in a hostel! You will meet new people, they will probably be adventurous, well-traveled, and open-minded.

７月２３日（木）

The weather in Hokkaido is much nicer this time of year than in Osaka or Tokyo. Every where we had been was burning hot. Hokkaido was also hot and humid, but not as overwhelmingly so as our other destinations.

We didn't have many plans for Hokkaido aside from relaxing at the onsen and trying out a ryokan experience. In the absence of anything the others were dying to do, I got really excited about going to Sapporo Beer Museum and trying all the beers. To get to the train station we had to use a taxi, which the ryokan front desk kindly called for us.

In the meantime, we took a walk by a nearby lake.

Nick and gazebo

湖 (mizuumi, lake)

It is a noticeable difference between big hubs like Tokyo and Osaka where you can't avoid people speaking English loudly at you, and Hokkaido where it seems very few people speak English. The taxi drivers spoke none, and the station staff also spoke very little. There was one other guest in the ryokan who spoke English with me, but for the most part I am getting to practice my Japanese uninterrupted.

On the train we talked a little about cultural differences between Japan and the US. One I think is interesting to mention.

Culture note: In Japan, people don't say anything when someone else sneezes, and the person who sneezes also says nothing. The action is usually completely ignored. There's no Japanese equivalent to "excuse me," or "bless you."

The boys had accidentally taken a key from a hotel they stayed in back in Hiroshima, so on the way to the beer museum we dropped by a post office and sent the key back to them. We laughed because the key was being sent to Hiroshima from Hokkaido, with my address in Osaka as a return address. So many places involved, so confusing!

After leaving the post office, we saw some cool stuff crossing a pass over the railroad tracks.

bicycle-accessible stairs: awesome

ooo trains

そのまま (sonomama, as it is) ... as what is?

that kid knows what's up

On our way the boys and I started talking about Japanese license plates. Kitty asked what the hiragana (one of the 3 Japanese alphabets) symbol on each one means. Unfortunately I couldn't answer because I didn't know anything about Japanese licensing of vehicles. I did a little research, however, and this is a good simple overview: Japanese license plates. In the article they mention "kei cars" (軽カー). These are just lightweight cars that have low registration costs, probably due to fuel efficiency.

We got to the Beer Museum and there were also restaurants that serve beer, there was even a beer garden but it only opened in the evening. Before heading to the museum, we decided to have lunch and beer at the restaurant in the museum. I had also been advised to try a Hokkaido specialty called ジンギスカン (jingisu kan, genghis khan), a grilled mutton dish. We mainly ordered genghis khan and 飲み放題 (nomihoudai, all-you-can-drink).

these pretty flowers were near the museum

YES

YES

YES

food time!

two classics and one black and tan: 乾杯 (kanpai, cheers)!

pork genghis khan

cooking genghis khan

Kitty being a sad kitty

score!

We drank many types of Sapporo's beer and I actually quite liked some of them. Standouts were the Sapporo Classic and their black and tan. There was another one that can only be sampled at the museum but I was not able to try it after all, because I overdid nomihoudai. The challenge of drinking enough to make nomihoudai financially worth it can be dangerous for lightweights. The result was unattractive public drunkenness in a foreign country, so don't make the mistake I did. When in a foreign culture it's better not to lose control like that.

The boys got a taxi and got us back to our ryokan. I missed out on dinner because there was no way I was putting food in me at that point. Could have been a good day for everyone; my indiscretion put a damper on that, though. At least the onsen bath felt really great regardless.

Travel tips:
21. Don't get too drunk in public, it can put a damper on your fun. Nomihoudai can be a trap.

７月２２日（水：to Hokkaido)

Today the 4 of us went to Hokkaido for THE FIRST TIME EVER!

We had breakfast at the bakery in Shnjuku Station again, but since we had all our luggage with us, they pushed us outside, so we ate standing where we could find room. The staff's objection to us having suitcases in the shop was literally 危ない (abunai, it's dangerous). Japan: limited space is a thing.

standing station bakery breakfast yeah

Getting on the express to the airport was pretty terrible, because the boys had use of their Japan Rail Passes, but in a moment of bad planning, mine had expired the day before and I had to get a ticket separately and pay a bunch of money for it. The boys were super nice and pitched in even though it was my own fault.

Kitty was impressed by useful mechanisms on the train. Airport expresses and shinkansen usually have these.

fold-out cup holders

fold-out coat/umbrella hook

We had underestimated the price of the express because there are two tickets you have to buy for certain trains. There is one charge to get on the train, and one to have a seat. It's a really weird system that according to a lady I talked to in the station when I left the train, a lot of foreigners get confused about. No wonder!

I've talked a lot about public trash cans: this is how the separation often looks

Also, trash cans are sometimes few and far between, so that can be frustrating.

In the airports we were trying to find an ATM that would accept an international card, but we were short on time and didn't manage to find one.

When we checked our luggage with Peach, we were displeased by the realization that checking luggage at the airport cost about 1.5 the listed price for checking the baggage online ahead of time. This is part of Peach Aviation's nickle-and-diming that I mentioned in an earlier post.

out Peach plane from Tokyo to Hokkaido, from the bus that took us out to it

Our flight had been delayed, so once we got to Shin-Chitose Airport we risked being too late to check in to our 旅館 (ryokan, Japanese-style inn). I made a phone call to the ryokan to make sure the latest we could check in, and we found that using a taxi we could just make it. It was a bit expensive, but we found a taxi and he managed to fit all our luggage, comprehend our hurry, and agree to try to get us there on-time. He chatted with me about some of the food and nature in Hokkaido on the way.

We were super impressed by the room when we got to our ryokan, 南幌温泉 (Nanporo Onsen). I have never stayed in a ryokan before, so I am not entirely clear on how to be the best kind of guest, but we do what we can.

Kitty taking pictures

Nick taking pictures

our table

with trimmings

beautiful

doorway

AMAZING ROOM

The first thing to keep in mind is that if a room you stay in has tatami mats NEVER ROLL YOUR LUGGAGE ON THE TATAMI. Not only is tatami very hard to clean so getting any dirt on them should be avoided, but suitcases can actually cut a hole in tatami, costing a lot of money. Fortunately, our group were all safe and did not soil or tear the tatami.


We had reserved dinner with our room, so almost immediately dinner was served to us as it was just in time for the latest serving of dinner. In ryokan, dinner is served to your room. The 女将 (okami, proprietress) of the ryokan served us with 1 other female staff member. It was a fish dinner, and Lane summarized it as "definitely one of the most terrifying meals I've had."

our banquet: Lane's face is my favorite part of this

platter of things to put on the grills, toward the top right and left of the picture

grilling

our personal trays

 Culture note: In Japanese-style dining there are usually platters of food that everyone takes from as they please. Each person has their own rice bowl, and toppings for the rice, but most other dishes are shared. As you can see there is usually also a personal bowl aside from the rice bowl in which to put the next thing you will eat.

rice cooking

steak on top of daikon radish, very tasty

We found out these mussels were still alive, or at least still reacting to touch. None of us could bring ourselves to put them on the grill so we left them on the plate.

We received so much food that it was overwhelming. I ate everything of my portion that I could but it was a huge amount of food and I could not do it without bursting. Just last post I mentioned that you should finish all of your food, but in this case it was too much, and I think a lot of it was outside our taste as Americans. The okami came to me (because no one at the ryokan spoke English so I was acting as translator and main contact) and asked if the food was to our liking because we had left so much. I felt truly bad about leaving so much of it but told her that we simply couldn't eat that amount of food, that maybe we have small stomachs. I made sure to tell her it was all delicious and to thank her for it, because they had obviously gone to a lot of trouble to make it for us.

Fortunately, we have a steak-centric dinner reserved for tomorrow, so it should be more suited to American tastes.

After dinner we took a bath and went to the 温泉 (onsen, hot spring) attached to the ryokan. The baths were separated men/women, but inside these designations it was public bathing. There are rows of stools next to mobile shower heads and faucets, and the place even provided towels soap and shampoo, along with a yukata to wear as a robe around the ryokan after bathing. I bathed before getting into the onsen, because you want to make sure you don't dirty the waters of the onsen.

The public bath space was indoors and even had an indoor onsen, a cold water tub, and a sauna. After my bath, though, I headed straight out to the outdoor onsen. It was a stone pool big enough for probably about 10 women to sit in comfortably. Water was running out of the rocks on one end and draining into them on the other, making the sound of running water. It was great to sit in the hot water and let my muscles relax. The water felt very good on my skin and a little tingly on my blisters and cuts (just regular travel stuff). When I walked along a covered path lined with LEDs I found another outdoor onsen bath, this one in a wooden tub. It's a nice setup.

After our baths, we all relaxed on our futons that the staff kindly set up in our room while we bathed.

the boys relaxing with tv, note the charger setup between my and Kitty's futons

nice face

was so excited about ryokan I needed a selfie with each travel buddy: Me and Kitty!

Me and Nick!

Me and Lane! Haha Lane's face

We had a calm end to a hectic day.

Travel tips:
18. Check express trains to airports especially for the two-ticket system. If hyperdia listed a reserved seat price next to the train, it may a be a "buy two tickets" situation. Include this into your travel cost calculations.
19. RESPECT THE TATAMI. Do not roll or drag luggage over the tatami. Do not walk in shoes on tatami. Just be good to the tatami.
20. Be a bit adventurous when eating new food in a foreign country. Some people have stronger opinions about food than others, but even people with strong likes and dislikes usually at least appreciate the experience of an unusual meal. Sometimes you will even find a new favorite food where you least expected it. Just make sure most meals are to everyone's liking, and then a meal or two can be something new and crazy.